Final score is calculated by weighting and averaging all datapoints across multiple categories.
The fundamental gameplay experience including fun factor, mechanics, and technical performance.
The core experience is highly regarded due to its exceptionally fun and engaging creative survival gameplay, but persistent technical performance issues and occasional bugs prevent it from achieving universal praise.
Story quality, world depth, replay value, and overall content value.
This category scores well because players deeply appreciate the high-quality content updates and exceptional long-term replay value, though this is moderated by recurring concerns about the game's monetization practices.
Visual and audio quality combined with creative and innovative design elements.
The game's presentation is viewed positively for its aesthetics, but this is undermined by technical glitches, while innovation is seen as being carried primarily by the community rather than official updates.
Multiplayer features, social aspects, and developer support systems.
The social experience is valued for its multiplayer potential but is consistently held back by technical issues, and while developer support through new content is appreciated, frustration with long-standing bugs tempers community satisfaction.
Our True-Review is based on 10 datapoints collected over multiple days. Each datapoint is scored and weighted according to its importance. These weighted scores are then averaged to calculate the final True-Review score.
You can look at the scores and weights and make adjustments to see where we derive the final from. Tinker, play, test and above all else - have fun!
Open Score TinkererOur reviews are based on comprehensive datapoint analysis collected over multiple days of community feedback and gameplay data. Each datapoint is scored and weighted according to its importance in the overall experience.
Learn more about our methodologyPure enjoyment and entertainment value of playing the game.
Players feel the game is exceptionally fun because its sandbox nature provides limitless freedom, appealing to both creative builders and adventurous explorers. The core loop of gathering resources, crafting, and surviving remains highly engaging even for veteran players. Regular content updates introduce new elements to discover, ensuring the experience stays fresh and exciting, which far outweighs any minor, occasional frustrations.
Quality of primary gameplay systems including combat, controls, and core interaction loops.
The core mechanics are praised for empowering player creativity through a robust building system, while the survival mode offers a compelling challenge. Recent updates, such as those adding new combat mechanics, have been received positively for adding depth to the established gameplay loop. However, some new players find the game's initial learning curve to be challenging, and persistent bugs are a minor but recurring point of friction for the community.
Game stability, optimization, frame rate, bugs, and overall technical execution.
Player experience with performance is notably divided, leading to a mixed perception of the game's technical state. While many players enjoy a stable game, often with the help of community-made performance mods, a significant portion of the community reports persistent issues. Common complaints include stuttering and frame rate drops, especially in complex areas or when using shaders, indicating that the game's optimization is a consistent concern.
Overall quality of story, world-building, characters, and narrative pacing across all content.
The community is highly satisfied with the game's content, celebrating the depth it offers for world-building and creative expression. Players are deeply engaged with the game's evolution, actively discussing new additions and showcasing their own impressive creations. This enthusiasm is slightly tempered by a sentiment among some veteran players that newer content occasionally clashes with the game's original aesthetic or simplicity.
Amount of content, replayability factors, and long-term engagement potential.
The game's longevity is considered exceptional due to a combination of continuous official updates and a thriving community content scene. Players feel the experience is endlessly replayable because they can always find something new, whether it's an official feature or a transformative mod that overhauls the game. While the steady pace of official updates is appreciated, some players express a desire for larger, more ambitious annual updates to make a bigger impact.
Price-to-content ratio, DLC value, microtransaction fairness, and overall monetary value.
Players generally feel the game offers great value, as the one-time purchase price includes years of significant, free content updates. However, sentiment is more critical regarding the in-game marketplace, which many players feel has overpriced items and suffers from technical issues with purchases. This leads to a concern that developer focus may be shifting towards monetization rather than improving the core game experience.
Combined assessment of graphics, art style, sound design, music, and overall presentation.
The game's iconic visual style and atmospheric music are highly regarded, with many players using community-made shaders to further enhance the aesthetic. This positive view is held back by the performance issues and graphical glitches that often accompany these visual enhancements. While the audio is generally praised, certain sound effects have drawn criticism, making the overall presentation good but technically inconsistent.
Originality, fresh ideas, creative design elements, and innovative approaches to gameplay or presentation.
Players believe the game's core design is an unparalleled catalyst for creativity, but feel that true innovation is primarily driven by the modding community. Community-made content often introduces complex mechanics and features that players find more groundbreaking than official updates. Consequently, official additions are sometimes perceived as incremental or safe, lacking the transformative impact that players have come to expect from mods.
Quality of multiplayer gameplay, social features, community interaction, and online experiences.
The ability to play with friends is a highly valued part of the experience, with community servers providing a backbone for social interaction and unique gameplay. However, this social aspect is frequently undermined by persistent technical problems that frustrate players. Recurring issues with server stability, unreliable connections, and platform-specific multiplayer bugs prevent the social features from being a consistently seamless experience.
Developer communication, update frequency, bug fixes, and overall post-launch support quality.
Players have a dual perspective on developer support, appreciating the long-term commitment to adding new content that keeps the game evolving. At the same time, there is widespread frustration regarding long-standing bugs and performance issues that players feel are consistently ignored. This leads to a sentiment that developers prioritize creating new features over fixing fundamental problems with the existing game.